The present invention relates to a hinge for motor vehicle sun visors designed for connecting the sun visor to the support shaft attached to the vehicle structure and on which said visor is pivotably mounted.
Mechanical devices are known which provide various solutions to the problem of connecting the sun visor with which motor vehicles are normally equipped and the support shaft attached to the vehicle structure on which they are pivotably mounted. The sun visor is formed by a sun visor body injection molded from materials such as, for example, polyurethane foam, which have a limited mechanical strength, and by a structure-reinforcing metal frame made from a rod, the perimeter of which coincides with and/or is adapted to the contour of the sun visor.
Among these known mounting devices are the devices described in the Spanish Patent Documents No. 276,823 "New hinge for motor vehicle sun visors" and No. 275,684 "Reinforced hinge for pivotably mounting motor vehicle sun visors". The Spanish Patent Document No. 276,823 teaches an injection molded plastics body member together with a metal rod forming the sun visor frame and having a spring to retain the support shaft on which the sun visor is pivotably mounted. Spanish Patent Document No. 275,684 teaches a body member also produced from plastics material mechanically attached to the metal rod forming the sun visor frame and which is externally provided with a retaining spring for the support shaft on which the sun visor is pivotably mounted.
These two prior Spanish Patent Documents Nos. 276,823 and 275,684 have as a common functional feature the fact that once the hinge is connected to the metal rod from which the sun visor structure-reinforcing frame is formed, it is not possible to separate both components, i.e., the hinge from the metal rod.
A design, which allows separation of the hinge from the rod after assembly, has been considered for the assembly stage when the material forming the sun visor body member has not yet been injection molded together with the metal rod attached to the hinge, but during the assembly process of such components. This is logically a notable drawback preventing optimization of the production processes and storage of finished product, with the resulting cost increase, since it prevents exchange of these components once they are assembled, when so required by the production process in order to adapt it to the current demand.